CHAPTER 5

Principal Vale's office smelled like cold coffee and broken dreams.

I sat in the hard plastic chair facing his desk, surrounded by five school board members who looked at me like I was something they'd scraped off their shoes. My hands were held tight in my lap, nails digging into my palms hard enough to draw blood.

Behind me, I felt the triplets' presence even though I couldn't see them. They'd been called as witnesses.

"Miss Moon." Board President Sinclair folded her hands on the conference table, her expression cold. "The evidence against you is huge. Video footage, timestamped photographs, witness testimony confirming you met with Mr. Stone privately after hours."

"To prevent a duel on school grounds," I said for the hundredth time. My voice was hoarse from repeating myself. "That's all it was. Someone edited the footage to make it look.."

"The footage speaks for itself." Sinclair's tone was even colder now. "You abused your position as Student Union President to facilitate a private meeting with a male student. The nature of that meeting appears to have been..."

"It wasn't!" I slammed my hands on the table, making everyone jump. "We talked for fifteen minutes. We shook hands. We hugged goodbye like normal human beings. Whoever planted those cameras twisted everything."

"Cameras you have no proof exist," another board member said.

"Someone had to record that footage!"

"Or," Sinclair said coldly, "you and Mr. Stone arranged this encounter willingly, and now you're attempting to avoid consequences."

The door opened. Two security guards escorted Lucas inside.

He looked rough, dark circles under his eyes, his usual arrogance stripped away. When our eyes met, something passed between us.

"Mr. Stone." Sinclair gestured to the chair beside mine. "Sit."

Lucas sat, his jaw tight. "This is crazy. We didn't do anything wrong."

"The evidence suggests otherwise." Sinclair slid a folder across the table. "There are multiple photos. Video footage. Eyewitness accounts of you entering the Student Union office."

"We only talked," Lucas said through gritted teeth. "That's it. Nothing else. Just two people having a conversation."

"That's enough." Principal Vale stood, his face fierce. "The board has reached a decision." He looked at Lucas first. "Mr. Stone, given your brief arrival at this institution and the severity of these allegations, you are hereby expelled effective immediately."

"You can't..." Lucas started.

"We can." He said without blinking. "And we have. You have one hour to collect your belongings and vacate campus."

Lucas's fists clenched on the armrests, his whole body trembling with barely contained rage.

Vale turned to me next. "Miss Moon. Your record as Student Union President and your academic standing have been considered. However, your actions represent a severe breach of trust and protocol." He paused, letting the weight settle. "You are suspended for two months without appeal. Your position as Student Union President is revoked permanently."

The words hit like bullets.

Two months. My senior year, destroyed. College applications, ruined. My one source of pride, stripped away.

"You're making a mistake," I whispered.

"The mistake was yours." Walsh stood, gathering her papers. "This meeting is is over. Security will escort you both from the premises."

The guards moved forward. Lucas rose first, shooting me one last look.

The hallway was packed with students pretending not to watch. Lucas walked ahead of me, security beside him, his shoulders rigid with suppressed anger.

At the main entrance, he slowed until I caught up. The guards didn't stop him.

"Someone set us both up," he said quietly, his voice barely audible over the hallway noise. "This was planned."

"I know," I whispered back.

"Watch your back, Thalia." His golden eyes met mine, serious for once. "Whoever did this wanted us gone. You need to figure out why before they come for you again."

Then he was through the doors and gone, expelled for a crime he didn't commit.

I followed minutes later, my box of personal items from my locker clutched against my chest.

I didn't cry until I was three blocks away.

The two months that followed were a special kind of hell.

My mother barely spoke to me, her disappointment a physical presence in our cramped house. When she did talk, it was to remind me how I'd ruined everything, how I was just like my father, weak and pathetic.

I spent my days alone, studying at home. At night, I dreamed of cameras hidden in walls.

When the reinstatement letter finally arrived, I almost didn't open it.

The meeting room was the same one where they'd destroyed me. Same hard plastic chairs.

Principal Vale sat across from me with Vice Principal Hale and two board members I didn't recognize. Their faces were professionally, giving nothing away.

"Miss Moon," Davison began, "your suspension period is complete. We're here to discuss the terms of your reinstatement..."

The door crashed open.

A woman stumbled in, wild-eyed and disheveled. Her hair hung in weird tangles around a face that might've been beautiful once but was now haunted. Her clothes were dirty, torn at the sleeves. She looked homeless and insane.

Security moved immediately, but she was faster.

She lunged across the room and grabbed my arms, her fingers digging in like claws. Her eyes, exactly like mine, locked onto my face with desperation.

"My daughter!" Her voice cracked with emotion. "They stole you from me! I've been searching for eighteen years!"

"Ma'am, you need to..." A security guard grabbed her shoulder.

"No!" She clung to me harder, and the smell from her made me want to puke. "Don't you remember? They took you! The witches took you and gave you to that wolf!"

My heart hammered. "I don't know you..."

"Your birthmark!" She yanked at my collar, exposing the small mark on my collarbone. "Right there! I gave birth to you! You're MINE!"

Two more guards rushed in, removing her fingers from my arms. She fought like a wild animal, screaming.

"The witches!" she shrieked as they dragged her toward the door. "They cursed you! Made you forget! But I found you! I finally found you!"

"Ma'am, you're trespassing..."

"SHE'S MY DAUGHTER! BORN MARCH FIFTEENTH EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO!"

They hauled her through the door. Her screams echoed down the hallway, growing fainter.

"My baby! My baby girl! Don't let them keep you! Don't let the witches..."

The door slammed shut.

Silence crashed down like a wave.

I sat frozen, my arms still tingling where her fingers had gripped. My birthdate. My birthmark that nobody outside my family knew about.

How did she know?

"I apologize for that disruption," Vale said, his face pale. "Clearly a disturbed individual. We'll ensure she's removed from campus permanently."

But his hands were shaking as he shuffled his papers.

Vice Principal Hale wouldn't meet my eyes.

And one of the board members was staring at me with an expression I couldn't read.

"Who was she?" My voice came out barely a whisper.

"Nobody," Vale said too quickly. "A homeless woman with mental health issues. Nothing to concern yourself with."

But they were all lying.

I could see it in their faces, hear it in their voices.

That woman knew things she shouldn't know.

And everyone in this room was terrified of what that meant.

"Now," Vale cleared his throat, "about your reinstatement..."

I nodded, but I wasn't listening anymore.

My mind was racing with one question, repeating over and over.

Who the hell was that woman?

And why did looking into her eyes feel like staring into a mirror?